Three decades ago, SNL bravely dared to ask “Who’s he… or she?” and turned gender nonconformity into a punchline with Julia Sweeney's Pat. Now, a who’s-who of trans comics are tasked with the ultimate challenge: creating a new Pat sketch for 2025, while also interrogating the boneheadedly problematic (yet nonetheless meaningful) representation of our past along the way.

Drag Race star Peppermint takes center stage in this up close and personal documentary about her journey with fame, identity, and the art of drag. Sharing her story alongside a close network of trans individuals, one of the world’s favorite drag performers takes you inside her rise from humble beginnings to her current reign as outspoken trailblazer for the trans community.

Star-studded with testimonies from Lady Gaga, Dionne Warwick, and Billy Porter, this documentary traces gay gospel singer Carl Bean's journey of liberation from music industry success to his influential AIDS activism. Uplifting and inspirational, Frameline49’s official Juneteenth celebration sings a song of love and pride for today’s dark times.

Working with LGBTQ+ activists, poets, dancers, and rappers, Black visual artist Rashaad Newsome embarks on a new immersive project. Through personal stories and tributes, odes to ballroom culture, live music, and Afro-futurist AI, Newsome transforms an NYC armory into a performance, art, and resistance sanctuary for the queer community.

This tender and deeply personal documentary explores the complexities of identity, belonging, and reconciliation. Executive produced by Alex Gibney, Between Goodbyes tells the story of Mieke, a queer Korean adoptee raised in the Netherlands, and her birth mother, Okgyun, who was forced to give her up under South Korea’s harsh one-child policy, cultural stigma, and economic hardship.

A salient document of our current moment, Sam Feder’s film centers on ACLU attorney Chase Strangio, the first out trans person to argue before the Supreme Court. Fighting to overturn Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth, Strangio and other leading activists — like Laverne Cox and Elliot Page — examine how media bias influences the public’s perception of trans rights.

How exactly did Dorothy Gale become a cinematic stand-in for the outcasts of the world? Featuring interviews with pop culture icons including John Waters, Lena Waithe, Amber Ruffin, and Margaret Cho to name a few, It's Dorothy! explores the origins and legacy of the character, from the ways she has been subverted and reimagined, to her impact on LGBTQ+ culture.

The iconic Venus Xtravaganza was immortalized in Paris Is Burning. But this arresting documentary from director Kimberly Reed further explores her story: from her beginnings in the ballroom scene, to the efforts made by her birth and house families to preserve her legacy and demand justice for her murder.

Executive produced by Sarah Jessica Parker, The Librarians examines the book bans threatening schools and libraries in the United States. As legislators take aim at works that center on race and queerness, a group of librarians put their lives at risk to ensure that our stories aren’t removed from shelves — or erased from culture at large.

Gay poet, novelist, filmmaker, and artist Jean Cocteau was a visionary whose influence shaped the 20th century and continues to resonate today. Through rare archival footage, personal interviews, and clips from his groundbreaking work, Jean Cocteau offers a vivid portrait of an artist who defied convention at every turn.

Three-time Paralympian and 14-time Guinness World Record setter Angela Madsen is a renowned ocean rower. By chronicling the year leading up to Madsen’s unsupported solo row from Los Angeles to Hawai’i, Row of Life captures both the everyday beauty of a lesbian love story and an athlete’s fearless tenacity in the face of harrowing adversity.

Exploring what it means to be a queer teen in the 2020s, Niñxs turns the transition narrative and the coming-of-age portrait on their heads, as director Kani Lapuerta lets Karla Bañuelos — who is always playfully aware of the camera — shape the project into a cinematic diary. This inventive doc was a recipient of a Frameline Completion Fund grant.

Over ten years have passed since Bay Area icons/activists/artists/partners Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens made their first queer environmental documentary feature in 2014, and with the climate crisis worsening with each passing season, the artist/activist duo are sounding the alarm with the third chapter: a cinematic reckoning with the power of fire.

Legendary Bboy Wicket, internationally renowned breakdancer, changed the game in the ‘90s. While the SF dancer seemed to have it all, the closeted gay man behind the persona, Gabriel Jaochico, struggled with the isolation of living a half-truth. This intimate documentary is the energizing story of the transformative power of art, and of living as your whole self.

“What if everything you were told about yourself from the people you trusted was a lie?” Through the story of Jim Ambrose, who discovered he was intersex as an adult, this year's Out in the Silence Award winner exposes the truth about the harms caused by a bogus and bigoted medical study that lead to the normalization of a systemic practice which forced gender designations onto thousands of intersex children.

When The Rocky Horror Show opened in 1973, no one could have imagined the impact that the subversive rock musical would have on culture. As the movie turns 50, the original cast, creatives, and other pop culture icons (including Richard O’Brien, Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, and Trixie Mattel) reminisce about the process of bringing it to life, as audiences around the world continue to do the time warp again and again.

Filmmaker Sasha Wortzel returns to Frameline with a glorious and impassioned tribute to the Florida Everglades. Drawing inspiration from the work of writer and activist Marjory Stoneman Douglas, the film beautifully summons regional history to serve as a call to action to preserve the local ecosystem and fight the systemic threats of the climate crisis.

A Mother Apart follows acclaimed spoken word artist and queer activist Staceyann Chin as she embarks on a deeply personal journey to understand her estranged mother — the woman who abandoned her in Jamaica at the age of nine. With brutal honesty, Chin asks the painful question: “Why would a mother leave her child?” 

In 1981 in Odessa, Texas, the nude body of a Catholic priest was discovered in a seedy motel room. Cops had no leads until James Reyos, a young gay Apache man, suddenly confessed and was swiftly convicted. Though Reyos quickly recanted his confession, it took four decades for previously buried evidence to emerge, sending shockwaves through the town.

In Italy, Dr. Maurizio Bini is viewed as an unconventional practitioner — but that’s exactly what makes him a vital healthcare provider. With the conservative government attempting to interfere in a person’s medical care, this unsung hero fights for his patients.

Winner of the Festival Favorite Award at Sundance, Come See Me in the Good Light is a poignant and funny portrait of poet and activist Andrea Gibson following a terminal cancer diagnosis. Gibson and partner Megan Falley unearth a profound sense of resilience in small, everyday joys as they discover what it means to really live.

Angelo Madsen’s sophomore feature dives into Fakir Musafar’s groundbreaking “Modern Primitives” movement. Fearless and unbiased, the film’s striking editing combines archival visuals and personal stories to reveal the complex life of this Bay Area artist and how his body modification practices reshaped queer identity and influenced alternative culture.

Known for being the first American woman to fly in space, astronaut and physicist Sally Ride kept her personal life private until her death — where it was revealed she had a long-term partnership with science writer and professor Tam O'Shaughnessy. This Sundance Award-winning documentary seamlessly blends archival footage and intimate interviews for a complete portrait of Earth’s first known lesbian space traveller.